Swimming - World body suspends Mexican federation

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

(Reuters) - Swimming's world governing body FINA announced it had 'temporarily suspended' the Mexican federation on Saturday after the country's decision last year to pull out of hosting the 2017 world championships in Guadalajara.

The western Mexican city withdrew as host of the two-week event due to financial problems resulting from falling oil prices.

Budapest, the city that had been due to host the 2019 championships, stepped in as a replacement.

Meeting in the Hungarian capital, FINA said the suspension was due to Mexico "not fulfilling contractual obligations concerning the cancellation of the 2017 FINA world championships in Guadalajara."

It did not detail the obligations or say what impact the suspension would have on Mexican swimmers in the lead up to the Rio Olympics in August.

FINA also announced that a company run by former International Olympic Committee director-general Francois Carrard had been appointed to assess and review the body's corporate governance.

Carrard is also head of scandal-plagued world soccer body FIFA's reform committee.

FIFA is facing unprecedented pressure to overhaul its governance and improve transparency after being plunged into the worst crisis in its history with the arrest of officials by American and Swiss authorities probing corruption allegations.